Is there a free service in the North Bay that will pick up usable stuff?

I believe you can schedule a pickup with the Salvation Army. For junk, I know that in San Francisco you can schedule two bulk item pickups for free every year. I’m not sure about San Rafael, but it probably is the same.

@shilolo—that just might work! Thanks for the lead. The other great tip for SF is that Out of the Closet thrift does pick ups. The only annoying thing is that they don’t accept everything. They rummage through what you have, sometimes making a mess and leaving stuff in your garbage which is horrible!

Where we are, several charities will do that sort of thing, including Paralyzed Veterans and Saint Vincent de Paul. Let your fingers do the walking and call the charities in San Rafael to see who might do that.

Here are some of the ones in San Rafael:

A.
Goodwill Industries
– www.sfgoodwill.org – (415) 456–5273 – More
B.
Hospice By the Bay Hodgepodge
– www.hospicebythebay.org – (415) 459–4686 – More
C.
One More Time Thrift Store
– maps.google.com – (415) 459–6137 – 1 review
D.
Humane Society Thrift Shop
– www.marinhumanesociety.org – (415) 459–5787 – More
E.
Goodstuff Thrift Store
– maps.google.com – (415) 456–4227 – More
F.
The Salvation Army, SAN RAFAEL, CA – Corps Community Center
– www.salvationarmy.org – (415) 454–7201 – 1 review
G.
Lifehouse Inc
– www.lifehouseagency.org – (415) 472–2373 – More

Your friend also might want to look into freecycle. From what I hear, Marin’s has a pretty thriving freecycle scene.

Welcome to San Rafael, neighbor! The Disabled American Veterans are great about picking up stuff too. They came and got half my house not too long ago.

@loser- thanks, that’s good info. Do you have any contact info for them? I couldn’t find anything online specific to San Rafael. Do you live in SR too? I live in SF but my friend is in SR—so far I really like it though. We have found good food and there is a lot more sun than sf ; )

I used to live in the city too. WAY more sun here!!!

They leave these pickup bags around every month and tell you when they’ll cruise back through the neighborhood to pick stuff up. I may have their name wrong. I’ll see if I can find their info. Please stand by…

I had good luck using Freecycle. I got rid of a lot of stuff that way. But if you’re wanting a charitable organization, I like the DAV, personally.

I can’t fund a number for those vets either! Weird!!! Now I’m seriously wondering who that stuff went to!!!

@loser—no worries! We are going to try a bunch of the other groups that were listed here.

Cheers!

Good luck!!!